LOCAL
yon d e r
Outlaw Will Carver Gunned Down in Streets of Sonora by Tammy T. Fisher
E
ver heard of the Wild Bunch? Sundance Kid? Butch Cassidy? In one of the most famous outlaw photos every taken, is also one of Sonora’s claims to fame: Will Carver (top left), who died in a hail of bullets in downtown Sonora, Texas, while casing the First National Bank of Sonora in 1901. Born in 1868, Carver was said to have been a “good looking, quiet, nice boy.” In 1880, young Will set out to become a cowboy with his uncle Dick, who had already spent time in 16
AUTHENTIC TEXAS
the state penitentiary. In 1889, they joined the crew on the Sixes Ranch west of Sonora. There, Will met those who would change his fate: the Kilpatrick Brothers, the Ketchum Brothers and the love of his life, Viana Byler, a 17-year-old from Dove Creek. Viana married Will in February 1892 and soon become pregnant. In July 1892, she died of complications of the pregnancy, sending the broken-hearted Will Carver to a life of crime. Will headed west and in 1899, held up the St. James Hotel in Cimarron, New Mexico.
SONORA
PECOS TRAIL REGION
